Gary Neville hailed Moises Caicedo as ‘the best midfielder in the Premier League’ after Chelsea’s victory over Liverpool.
Chelsea inflicted a third successive defeat on defending Premier League champions Liverpool on Saturday evening.
Caicedo broke the deadlock on 14 minutes with a superb strike past Liverpool No. 2 Giorgi Mamardashvili, standing in for the injured Alisson Becker.
Cody Gakpo’s equaliser on the hour mark looked set to end Liverpool’s losing run but Estevao Willian scored with virtually the last kick of the game to seal Chelsea a dramatic win.
Liverpool, bidding to retain the Premier League trophy they lifted in Arne Slot’s first season at Anfield, won their first seven games of the season but have now lost three games in a row.
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The worrying run leaves them one point behind new Premier League leaders Arsenal, while Chelsea climb to sixth after ending a three-game winless run in the league.
Neville said Caicedo was the difference-maker at Stamford Bridge, hailing the midfielder as the ‘best player on the pitch by a mile’.
Liverpool tried to sign Caicedo from Brighton back in 2023 but Liverpool won the race, spending well over £100m on the Ecuador international.
‘Moises Caicedo was the best player on the pitch by a mile,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast. ‘Forget the goal, which was absolutely incredible, his work around the pitch means he’s two in one.
‘He’s everything and a brilliant midfielder player. He was the best player on the pitch by a mile and if Liverpool had him they would have won, he was that good.
‘When he first came it wasn’t quite happening for him, was it? People were questioning him a bit but now he’s the best midfielder in the Premier League at this moment in time.
‘You think of [Ryan] Gravenberch last season and Declan Rice, Rodri obviously, but right now I think we can say he’s the best midfielder in the Premier League.’
Estevao’s injury-time winner against Liverpool was his first goal for Chelsea since arriving at the club in the summer.
The 18-year-old is rated as one of the most exciting prospects in world football, having already earned seven caps for Brazil.
‘We know that a young player can suffer when he moves from another country to settle down here and to play for this club,’ said Chelsea assistant coach Willy Caballero.
‘So the players, first of all, are doing a great job to involve all the new players. And when we have the chance, we work.
‘I can speak with him most of the time in Spanish because he understands. And he’s a really good kid. And we are so happy for him because he needs it, we need it, and he needs a goal as well.’
Ex-Chelsea winger Pat Nevin, meanwhile, said Estevao is ‘going to be special’ after his heroics against the champions.
‘Every time any Chelsea player gets the ball, they try to find Estevao,’ Nevin said on BBC Radio 5 Live. ‘That tells you a story about a player.
‘He’s an 18-year-old but everyone wants to give him the ball. That just shows what he’s capable of and what he’s doing in training. He’s going to be special.’
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